Voice of London

Speaking in tongues and chanting for spirits to help President Donald Trump’s re-election is Twitter’s new flavour of the week: Paula White.

Prominently known as the spiritual advisor to Trump, Paula White-Cain, 54, is an American author, televangelist and preacher for her own ministries located in Apopka, Florida.

In her most recent viral video, which was streamed from a church service at City of Destiny on Facebook Live Wednesday night, White demanded “angelic reinforcement” from Africa and allowed the holy ghost of God to rush through her as she spoke in tongues — similar to that ultra-hyper church service Bill Skarsgard attended in The Devil All the Time.

Born in Mississippi in 1966, White’s troubled youth began after her parents separated and her father committed suicide in the subsequent years that followed.

Enduring sexual abuse after physical abuse while in poverty and parental alcoholism, White found her religious awakening at 18 years old, saying: “The Lord gave me a vision that every time I opened my mouth and declared the Word of the Lord, there was a manifestation of His Spirit where people were either healed, delivered, or saved. When I shut my mouth, they fell off into utter darkness and God spoke to me and said ‘I called you to preach the gospel.’”

White, who owns a multimillion-dollar home as well as a private jet, is a champion of the controversial religious belief that claims an abundance of material wealth is an indicator of being in God’s good graces called prosperity theology. This is an especially popular theory amongst televangelists.

In 2011, White and her husband were involved in a three-year investigation by the Senate Finance Committe looking into possible misuse of tax exemptions related to churches and the misuse of donations at her former church, Without Wall, which made about $40 million-a-year at its peak.

After delivering the invocation at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, White was appointed to be the special advisor at the Office of Public Liaison for the Faith and Opportunity Initiative two years later.

Listed in the top three of Orlando Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful 2017: Philanthropy & Community Voices,” White comes in high demand across the country. She travels extensively to fulfill her mandated mission: “to transform lives, heal hearts, and show others the way to Jesus.” It’s curious she still reportedly has time to visit the White House once a week. 

Words: Maelina Hassel | Subbing: Connor O’Halloran